A member of The University of Nottingham’s Grounds Team has won a national award recognising her work maintaining the University sports grounds.

Susan Lawrence was awarded the ‘Most Promising Sportsturf Student of the Year’ in the Institute of Groundsmanship’s (IOG) Industry Awards 2012. The awards honour the UK’s grounds’ expertise and recognise the hard work and dedication of those in the industry.

Susan works for the Sports Turf Maintenance Team based at the Highfields Sports Grounds and, along with six other team members, is responsible for overseeing the external sports facilities at five University sites. Susan’s primary responsibility is the maintenance and renovation of the cricket squares and she also recently visited The University of Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus (UNMC) to assist with professional advice on sports pitch development there.

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Dedication

Having worked at the University for eight years, Susan won the IOG award based on her enthusiasm for personal development which has seen her attend a team leader’s course, leading to a City & Guilds qualification. Once she has completed a Level 3 Advanced National Certificate in Sports and Amenity Turf Management she intends to complete a degree in sports turf science.

Martyn Lloyd, Grounds Maintenance Manager at The University of Nottingham said: “Susan is extremely dedicated to her work and is committed to improving the University grounds. Her expertise is primarily on the maintenance of fine turf, but her work is a wide ranging brief which also sees her assisting in the maintenance of the artificial sports pitches as well as the summer and winter sports pitches. She is a real enthusiast in what she does and thoroughly deserving of this award.”

More than 350 of the UK’s and Europe’s leading groundscare experts from both the professional and volunteer sector, as well as dignitaries from the governing bodies of sport and influential sports administrators, honoured those in the country’s grounds profession at an Oscar-style ceremony at York Racecourse earlier this month.

Student facilities

Susan said: “Sport and fitness is an important part of a student’s time at the University, so to achieve an award to recognise my work in this area was really special. It was also a real honour to be up against so many people from the professional sports industry. This recognition will hopefully demonstrate the University’s continuing commitment in providing support for staff whose role it is to improve the facilities we provide to our students.”

The awards recognise leadership, innovation and outstanding achievement across every aspect of groundscare — from grassroots pitches to professional stadia. These awards also celebrated the quality standards of groundscare achieved in public and private sports venues, and highlighted the progress of young and student grounds professionals as well as entrants’ environmental considerations.

The University of Nottingham is committed to being a sector-leading sustainable university. For more information on how this is being achieved, visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/sustainability.
The University was also recently awarded the Times Higher Education Award for its Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development.

Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 40,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘the world’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2011.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.

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More information is available from Charlotte Anscombe, Media Relations & Campaign Manager, Marketing, Communications and Recruitment at The University of Nottingham at charlotte.anscombe@nottingham.ac.uk; +44 (0)115 748 4417.